TNA Impact 9-30 TV Results – Matt Hardy, EC3, Tomasso Ciampa on the BFG Go Home Show

Last week, we got a darned fine edition of Impact. EC3 bullied Jeff Hardy around a bit and beat Spud to defend his title in another great match, Gail Kim beat Jade in a good match to retain her title, and Chris Melendez won his leg back from Eric Young in a lumberjack match. That was about the worst part of the show, with the main event five-man elimination match not only making Drew the number one contender for Bound For Glory, but also delivering a far better match than this year’s King of the Mountain match. This week, Matt Hardy and Drew team up to face EC3 and Tyrus, and Dixie’s going to name a special referee for Drew vs. EC3. 

The show opens with a recap of Lashley suplexing guys in the main event, en route to Drew Sick Kicking him for the win. EC3 and Tyrus come out while Josh hypes up EC3 vs. Drew as the BFG main event. He calls it a “can’t miss” main event, but doesn’t cite why. EC3 says he isn’t in a good mood, but he is happy that he kicked Jeff Hardy out the door. He also isn’t happy that their biggest show is in four days and no one is talking about its main event. EC3 is insulted by Dixie cheering Drew on, and he calls her out. 

Dixie comes out in a multi-colored blouse while Josh ends his cheerleading streak for EC3. Dixie says he’s been in a great champion in the ring, but outside of it, he’s an embarrassment to the company. She praises Drew for saving the company, which EC3 wasn’t interested in doing. EC3 says he was disowned by her, but he wasn’t given the chance to lead Team TNA. He calls Drew the chosen one, but he can’t beat him at BFG – or ever. 

Drew comes down to his kick-ass Rising theme looking fairly pissed. He goes nose to nose with EC3 and has an aura about him just doing that. He tells EC3 to shut up and the reason no one likes him is that he’s a little bitch who thinks he’s the best in the world – he turned his back on TNA. EC3 slaps the belt to prove that he’s the best and Drew says that the second-best thing he does is talking. The best is in the ring because he’s an animal and he’ll tear EC3 apart. Well, at least they’ve established some kind of rivalry between them – even if it is right before the PPV.

EC3 says he beat every TNA Hall of Famer, and he’ll beat Drew too. At BFG, Drew won’t stand up – he’ll stay down. Drew says he isn’t a savior, but he will be the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Josh says this is one of the most-anticipated matches in quite some time. How? In what way? Why would this statement be true? Pope and Josh talk about how important a win here is tonight in the main event to gain the momentum for the title match. Josh says the BPs face the Dollhouse, and tonight, they’re down a member. Shera also faces Storm in a No DQ match to blow their rivalry off tonight. Storm tells Shera that he is the reason the other Revolution members are doubting him, but he’s a TNA legend and he’ll cut down Shera for the buzzards. 

After a break, Dixie is talking to someone backstage before EC3 interrupts her about Drew being the chosen one now and not him. Recap of the Revolution splitup over the past month and Shera breaking away from Storm. Christy Hemme appears after being largely off-screen for a while and announces Storm as he comes down the aisle. Shera comes down and brawls with Storm.

Mahabali Shera vs. James Storm – No DQ

 After the mid-aisle brawl, they go in the ring where Storm low blows him. Josh points out that there isn’t much of a Revolution left – as both Manik and Abyss have left. So then that would seemingly make this a one-man faction. Shera grabs him for a fallaway slam and we see a graphic for Earl Hebner’s hall of fame induction at BFG. Storm gets a back cracker. Storm grabs a pack of chairs and brings them in and sets them up like a bridge. Shera goes up top awkwardly, but gets slammed off the top and he goes through the chair bridge for 2. 

Storm brings a table in and the crowd chants “one more table”. Storm goes for the whirly bird through the table, but Shera powers out and they bonk heads. Storm gets the bottle, drinks from it, and spews the beer onto Early accidentally. This forces him to rest against the table lightly before a spear hits and Earl can’t count it. Shera is hit with a cowbell and eats a whirly bird through the table for a 2 count. Storm breaks the bottle over the ringpost to use it as a stabbing device here in a mid-card match that is opening the show. 

As Storm goes to bludgeon him with the bottle, a maskless Manik and Abyss make the save by doing the finger point and then pointing at Storm. Abyss chokeslams him while Manik hits the frog splash and Sheera gets the Sky High for the win. Josh calls this an upset while Pope points out that everything was legal. A backstage guy talks about how important the KOTM Title is, and asks Roode why – Roode says he’ll explain in a minute. After a break, someone asks Dixie about EC3 and she says that EC3 has been questioning her about everything for weeks. She wants to reward someone with a a special treat – if EC3’s team loses, Matt Hardy is added to the BFG main event.

Bobby Roode Explains the Importance of the TNA Legends/Global/World TV/King of the Mountain Championship

 Roode says he’s proudly the KOTM Champion, but he’s been asked just what this title means. It means pro wrestling, it represents the love of the sport. If that’s the case, why hasn’t it been defended recently? He swears to defend it with honor and respect soon, and he’ll kick this off at BFG. He’ll defend it in an open challenge to anyone in TNA and he will prove why he is the It Factory of pro wrestling. Lashley comes down while Josh wonders how he can see these two face off. Well, he can either watch BFG where these two will apparently have a match – or you can watch the first World Title reign of Lashley where they had some fantastic matches.

In an amusing bit, the fans chant “let’s go Bobby” which flusters Lashley. Lashley says he came to TNA to compete against the best in the world and that in wrestling, Roode is at the top of the food chain. He also wanted to collect as many titles as possible. Now, he wants one more match – he wants Bobby vs. Bobby in a fight to the finish for the KOTM Title. Lashley wants a handshake, as does Roode. Well great – maybe they can go have some milk and cookies later too. Taryn says that they’ve taken out Angelina and it’s time for the Dolls to take over and allow Taryn to stand over the BPs.

DJZ is out, and then he comes Tomasso Ciampa! So he gets to be on both Impact and NXT – wow. Trevor Lee is out for this as well. Josh is mystified by this, but says that as a former TNA Tag Team Champion, Lee and Myers have a match at BFG against the Wolves for the titles. 

DJZ vs. Trevor Lee vs. Tomasso Ciampa – X Division Match

DJZ gets a rana, and Lee hits a slick flip dive to the floor against Ciampa. For the first time in a long time, it really feels like there’s some new blood in this division. Shame that doesn’t seem like it will last with Ciampa on WWE’s radar and Lee only being here due to the GFW deal. Ciampa gets a suplex/brainbuster hybrid onto Lee. DJZ gets a pop-up dropkick and a double tornado DDT onto both guys! Z hits corner forearms and then Lee gets a deadlift German onto Ciampa for a 2. DJZ’s tornado DDT is tossed off, so Z hits a kneeling superkick onto Ciampa. Powerbomb>lungblower hits for Ciampa, but it only gets 2. Lee gets a corkscrew crossbody powerslam for the win. This was short, but exciting – and that’s more than can be said about the X division for quite a while. 

Madison buries the Dollhouse for having a stupid name and a tiny dollhouse. Angelina says that their name at least fits, and she’s got her arm in a sling – so they’re going with the arm injury instead of her pregnancy. Velvet takes great pride in destroying Taryn’s hand, and they’ll tear off the doll parts one by one. The revamped look for the BPs all basing their attire on Velvet isn’t flattering for any of them.

Brooke chats about being proud to be a knockout and beating Gail to win her first KOs title. We see her working out and she talks about how we haven’t seen the last of her. Josh hypes up Kong vs. Gail. EC3 says that the main event stipulation is a steaming pile of BS. EC3 tells Matt that he won’t make it to the BFG main event and Drew will lose tonight and at BFG. The Dollhouse comes down to face the BPs. BPs attack them in the aisle.

The Dollhouse vs. The Beautiful People

Velvet gets into a catfight with Marti. Velvet gets a jumping forearm in the corner and clotheslines her down for 2. Madison gets a yakuza kick for 2. Marti forearms her down to tag Jade in. Jade chops away, so Madison responds with chops and forearms. Madison hits something on the apron that is blocked by the referee and gets 2. Velvet gets a three kick combo and a neckbreaker for 2. Dolls hold Velvet and Jade dropkicks her down.

Rebel kicks Velvet in the corner and they chat about her wearing gloves because she doesn’t want to sully her hands on the BPs. Jade gets a necksnap for 2. Double-down off a double lariat. They tag out and Madison runs down Marti a few times. Enzuiguri gets 2 for Madison. Josh hypes up Lashley vs. Roode in another TNA Greatest Hits match at BFG. Madison gets a powerbomb for 2. Velvet gets thrown into the steps, but she avoids an arm-smashing chairshot. Rebel throws powder in the eyes of Madison and the heels get a schoolgirl win. Pope is just fine with this cheating. So who is the babyface announcer here? EY rants about wanting a man, woman, or child to face him – he isn’t afraid of anyone. We’ll hear from him next. 

Josh hypes up a big announcement from Dixie on Monday at Noon ET before hyping up the #SheraShake takeover on social media. You have until noon tomorrow to enter to win, and you could get a free viewing of BFG via Flipps. Gail hypes up her matches with Kong as being their best. At BFG, they’ll determine who the best Knockouts champion in history is, and it will establish their legacy and go down in history. Gail says she’ll win, and well, she should – but a Kong win would be nice too even though she really can’t do much at this point.

Eric Young, who of course lost a war hero’s leg last week, is out to rant. He’s pissed about losing the leg and no one is good enough to beat him and he’s God. Robbie E is out and begs EY to shut up. So now we’ve got EY vs. Robbie E, or maybe just a brawl. EY low blows him and he declares himself to be God after beating up Robbie E. Sarge comes down and eats a back suplex. EY goes for a chair, but Chris gets it and threatens to use it – so EY bails. 

Now Mr. Anderson is out because he’s Sarge’s friend and he says he’s been looking for God his whole life, so he’s glad to finally meet him. That’s the best thing Anderson’s done in eons. Anderson beats him up on the apron, while Robbie hits the Boom Drop, Sarge gets a stunner, and Anderson gets the Mic Drop. Recap of last week’s main event leads to Matt greeting Drew and saying that tonight, they’ll win and turn the main event into a three way match. Drew loves Matt’s plan and he wants Matt to get a chance and he enjoys wrestling throwing them curveballs. Drew says that it doesn’t matter if there are 50 or 100 people out there (in the ring, I presume), he will emerge victorious and win the title.

Recap of everyone hitting their finishers on EY because he turned on TNA. So that’s why they did that? Not because he stole a man’s leg? EY yells to Dixie about it not being fair and Dixie agrees – because at BFG, he’ll only have to worry about Kurt Angle. So to recap, the buildup to Kurt Angle’s big return match on PPV is his opponent being beaten up by a parade of mid-carders. I would call that a wee bit questionable. They could’ve at least shown a recap of EY taking Kurt out to make this seem like a slump for EY. EC3 and Tyrus come out for the main event. Matt comes out after a break, followed by Drew to really stretch this match out as much as humanly possible.

EC3 and Tyrus vs. Matt Hardy and Drew Galloway

Josh asks why Drew wouldn’t just throw this match to get the one he wants. Pope says that isn’t in Drew’s character – finally, a character on Impact makes a good point. Josh uses WWE math for a possible three way at BFG. Drew and EC3 have another staredown, so EC3 tags Tyrus in. Matt tags in after a brief brawl and they stomp away on Tyrus. Tyrus gets an advantage with some fish-hooking and then EC3 tags in for a 2. He brings Tyrus in for some corner double-teams. Tyrus spits at Drew on the apron and gets a nerve hold on Matt, which leads to some hilarious facial expressions from Matt.

Josh announces Bound For Gold with a ton of mid-carders, including Aiden ‘O Shea, who has never once been a character on Impact. He also offered up no further details – so I guess the winner gets a shot at the KOTM Title. Tyrus gets a chinlock and Josh mocks Pope for being against rope usage when it’s done to Matt, but it was okay with the Dolls. Josh is not the character to point this out given his wishy-washy nature.

Tyrus gets a Tenta-style rotating powerslam for 2. EC3 gets a neck wringer and knees him in the gut. Side Effect hits and Drew comes in. Now Josh is a big fan of Drew wanting to earn the win tonight and completely sees Pope’s point form before. Drew hits EC3 with a belly to belly, but Tyrus is legal and jumps him. Matt gets a flying clothesline off the top on Tyrus, who then eats a Twist of Fate. Drew gets the Sick Kick for the win – so Bound For Glory is now Matt Hardy vs. Drew Galloway vs. EC3. Why Matt couldn’t win this I have no idea, as it makes Matt look really weak. 

EC3 is shocked, and then Dixie comes down and announces the BFG main event officially. She says it will be fair and there is someone who is now available to be a guest referee – Jeff Hardy. In an amusing bit, he fist bumps Dixie. So now EC3 has basically a one-on-three handicap match and the idea of making it fair is to have one of the participant’s brother as the referee. Well, this was easily the worst-built BFG ever – and that’s saying something with last year’s show really setting the bar low.

To see every screenshot for the show, just click here.

TNA Impact Wrestling 9/16 live TV results: GFW vs. TNA Lethal Lockdown for control of the company

By Jeremy Peeples, WrestlingObserver.com

Last week, the world’s fastest invasion angle continued when the Wolves regained the tag team titles from Trevor Lee and Bryan Myers. Former TNA World Champion Eric Young came out with Chris Melendez’s artificial leg and shoved him down, while also defacing the leg with by putting athletic tape over it with “My Leg” and EY all over it. In the main event, Chris Mordetsky beat Drew Galloway to get the man advantage in tonight’s Winner Takes All Lethal Lockdown match to blow off the GFW vs. TNA invasion. Oh, and TNA’s “biggest show of the year” is in two weeks and has had literally zero build for it.

Yet another really green video package hyped up Lethal Lockdown, with clips of prior matches. The announcer guy says the taglines while Dixie recites them from a promo. Josh hypes up gladiators stepping inside six sides of steel as Dixie Carter faces Jeff Jarrett…a  match that isn’t happening here. JB is mid-ring saying that he has been in TNA for 13 years and two names are what you think of with TNA – Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett.  Now, on the night of the show, it’s time to make Lethal Lockdown official. Karen is out in a slick leather shirt and black leather pants, while Jeff is in jeans and a baby blue button-down shirt. Has he ever dressed nicely in a wrestling ring?

Dixie comes down while Josh says that she has made some mistakes with TNA, a company that was once on Spike TV. Josh assures Dixie that he and Pope are behind her – I’m sure that’s a real help to her confidence. JB explains. The stipulation. In a very. Stilted manner. JB says that each has agreed to say a few words, oh thank God. Dixie says that Jeff’s action removed him from power and that even a few weeks ago, she was hopeful that she and Jeff could rewrite the ending to TNA’s story. Karen calls her delusional while Jeff says that EY is nuts, he’s at least on his side.

Jeff says that he invested the first dollar in TNA and after tonight, he’ll be standing on top of two world-class wrestling companies. He hypes up the Global Force Wrestling Amped Army, which I guess is the roster, and tells Dixie that she should’ve always been on the outside of the business looking in. Jeff takes out JB. After 12 minutes, this ended. Josh, in a blinding checkered shirt and Pope are in their booth. Josh hypes up the TNA roster while we get a rundown of tonight’s four way Knockouts title match.

In a great bit, we see Jeff driving EC3 around. EC3 asks that he open his door, but he’s fine just staying in and appreciates Jeff at least knowing he took a couple of turns too quickly. EC3 asks for Jeff’s phone to watch cat videos and says his taste in music sucks. This was fantastic, and then Josh threatens us with a history lesson in Dixie Carter vs. Jeff Jarrett. We get a quick video telling us that TNA used to be a global powerhouse with huge starts, but with Jarrett gone, it fell. Well, this is bizarre to say the least.

Ad for Bound For Glory airs – the show is still two weeks away with zero matches announced. Abyss faces Shera next, and we get a Shera-Revolution recap. They actually made this seem fairly epic, and used some of the footage they shot during the final Spike shows that never aired otherwise. Abyss hobbled down and really doesn’t move like he should be working in this gimmick anymore. Shera came out doing “the Shera” dance, which the front row actually got behind a bit here. Shera teaches Bigfoot how to dance. He tries to show Abyss how to do it, but Abyss isn’t amused and attacks.

Shera vs. Abyss

Josh calls this the most important night of the year in TNA. I thought that was Bound For Glory? Pope calls Lethal Lockdown a battle to “keep TNA afloat”. Josh hypes up that if you use the promo code TeamTNA, you can save 20% on your order on ShopTNA. Abyss clotheslines him down. Abyss gets a neck crank on the mat. Abyss rakes the eyes to avoid the Sky High and grabs Janice. He threatens the referee with this implement of death, which isn’t a DQ. Shera gets a chokeslam for 2, but Storm comes down with a cowbell. He accidentally hits Abyss, who then accidentally hits Storm, and Shera hits the Sky High for the win. This was a fine match to use to take 20% off an order of some classic TNA PPV DVDs. Definitely get the Cross the Line triple pack and you can’t go wrong with any BFG except for 2014.

EC3 recaps a cat video with a ball of yarn and having fun at a Hardy party. After a break, Jeff Jarrett is in his ring gear and hypes up Team GFW – which apparently now includes Eric Young. Or maybe not, as Josh and Pope have no idea why he’s there despite Jeff saying that EY has sided with him. EC3 comes out without Jeff while Pope says that if that’s what EC3 does to Jeff when cameras are on, imagine what he does when they’re not on. No thanks. EC3 scolds them for playing Jeff’s theme. Jeff comes out in a suit with EC3 faces on it while EC3 tells Jeff he may come now and talks about how shaking his tush on the catwalk. Well, maybe Pope’s homoerotic subtext is now text.

EC3 tells Jeff that he needs this job to provide for his family and pay his medical bills. Jeff Hardy, the former top draw in pro wrestling, playing second fiddle to EC3 in this suit really does make it seem like his career has hit the skids. HBK lost his money giving it to friends, Big Show invested in a strip mall, and I guess Jeff Hardy lost all of his signing a TNA Wrestling contract.

Rockstar Spud came down to draw the parallels between Jeff Hardy being EC3’s assistant in a wacky suit and himself formerly having that role. Spud calls him garbage, while EC3 say that garbage couldn’t beat Sting, Bully, and Angle. EC3 cheapshots Spud, who recovers and attacks EC3, but is attacked by Tyrus. EC3 tells Jeff to “hit him”. Better be specific there EC3…and he actually hits Spud instead of hitting Tyrus despite having plausible deniability. Knockouts title is up next, giving us our second match in the first hour of this show.

Recap video of Jeff Jarrett’s return to TNA where he won the KOTM Title, was inducted into the Hall of Fame, took over for Bully Ray after he was inducted as the authority figure and then beaten up before Jeff was revealed as behind it. Jeff meets with Drew and talks about how he has his shares on the line and that Dixie has lost EY. Drew looks gigantic next to Jeff here. Jeff says it’s now 5-on-4 for the heel team and then Josh and Pope repeat this exact same point a few times and Pope says that they should erase Jeff Jarrett from TNA and the Hall of Fame. Earl Hebner’s Hall of Fame induction will be in his home state, and he’ll be inducted by William Corgan.

Brooke vs. Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong vs. Lei’D Tapa – Knockouts Title 4-Way

The challengers are mid-ring while Brooke gets a full intro. Kong and Tapa get alternating tree slams on the babyfaces. Tapa and Kong get into a monster clubbering exchange before Gail and Brooke double team Tapa. Kong attacks and TNA takes her out for a bit. After a break, a 619 by Gail is avoided by Tapa and she hits her with a snake eyes on the railing. Kong runs through Brooke before Kong gingerly dives onto Tapa off the apron.

Josh talks about how Brooke has broken fingers, but she’s still competing. Brooke gets 2 off a Russian legsweep. Gail gets the corner crossbody, but Brooke avoids the ringpost figure four. Tapa avoids Kong, who plows into Brooke. Tapa grabs Gail off the corner crossbody and slams her down. Tapa hits a terrifying superplex to Gail, leading to a Kong dive onto Tapa, allowing Brooke to flying elbow drop Kong. Kong gets Samoan dropped on the apron over the top rope by Kong and with Gail and Brooke alone, Gail reverses a sunset flip ala Bulldog against Bret and wins the title. Gail and Brooke adhere to the Code of Honor.

Josh hypes up the main event next while Team TNA ponders what will happen and Drew is quite upset that the terms “failure” and “mistakes” are being used to describe TNA. EC3 is offended by Jeff Hardy pulling some “backdoor action” on him since Spud now has a TNA World Title match with EC3 next week. Did Jeff Hardy empty his savings account to bribe Dixie for that? Why would that happen logically? Pope shows off the key on his action figure because it symbolizes success and that’s what TNA is all about. We get a recap of the rivalry as JB describes Lethal Lockdown.

Team TNA vs. Team GFW – Lethal Lockdown for Control of TNA

Sonjay Dutt starts the match off for GFW while Davey is starting it for Team TNA. Josh corrects himself saying that the Wolves are now five-time TNA Tag Team Champions – which is amazing since they’ve only been in the company for about a year and a half now. After the break, Davey and Sonjday Dutt brawl in “the most important main event in TNA history”. Sonjay bites the hand of Davey to avoid a suplex and then Josh thanks the fans for making #winnertakesall trend. Davey gets a cloverleaf, but EY comes down. I wonder if the artificial leg he won in a wrestling match will be one of the weapons in this match.

EY and Sonjay double team him for a bit while “you sold out” chants rain down on EY. Drew runs down and attacks. Pope makes Drew seem quite lame by using his full legal name to describe him before a break. After the break, we’ve missed a lot of in-ring action because they picked this break to do things in real-time. Bryan Myers is mid-ring and Sonjay has Drew in a camel clutch. Lashley comes down and hits Sonjay with a flipping German suplex and spears EY and Sonjay. Lashley is such a fun video game character in a wrestling match.

Mordetsky comes down and chokes Drew in the corner while Myers punches away at Davey in another corner. Eddie comes in and runs wild while the Wolves get some double teams. Jeff Jarrett is the final member of his own team, and Josh isn’t at all shocked by this. Well, given that Jeff was in his full gear right after the opening segment, he shouldn’t be. Josh prays that TNA has a fifth guy, and Pope says that he’s just signed to be a commentator or else he’d be in there. Well, that’s pretty cowardly of him. Bram comes down as the fifth man while everyone stands around so the weapons can fall for the Lethal Lockdown portion of the match after an ad break.

This time, the ad break wasn’t in real-time as they’ve all patiently waited until after the break to begin this portion of the match. Jeff beats up guys with a trash can after Pope scolds the GFW guys for using weapons, but then says the TNA guys need to use them because that’s what they’re for. Pope says he isn’t biased, but he’s fully behind TNA. So he’s biased then, and Josh says that this match is a monitor sellout in the back. Sonjay superkicks Eddie, but eats an Alarm Clock.

Team TNA immediately surrounds Jeff, and in a hilarious bit, he immediately scrambles to the camera opening and clutches his wife while begging her to not let them take him. EY piledrives Drew, but Lashley eats a Stroke after hitting the spear. Trash can to the head of Jeff leads to a double Van Terminator from the Wolves. Bram and Mordetsky hit each other with trash can lids. Drew boots Myers and hits the Future Shock on Myers to win the match. Why not have Jeff eat the fall? They set up a spot with him nearly eating all the finishers of the faces, and it would’ve been a fitting end. Instead, Drew Galloway saved TNA by beating Curt Hawkins – it’s like Hogan winning War Games by beating Zodiac.

Jeff crawls out of the ring and is surrounded by his crew. Drew grabs the case, so maybe he can cash it in for a shot at the KOTM Title or something. Dixie comes down and hugs Drew, who presents her with the case in a heroic pose. Drew was so great here. They grab a fan’s “We are TNA” sign and hold it up. They gave this match nearly the entire second hour of the show and gave the celebration plenty of time too. They didn’t hype up anything for next week’s show, so this really could’ve just been a finale for TNA as a whole and felt like a somewhat fitting ending.

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